ward

Multiple Entries:
  ward    -ward  

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
ward/wɔːd/

▶noun

• 1 a room in a hospital, typically one allocated to a particular type of patient.

• 2 an administrative division of a city or borough, typically represented by a councillor or councillors.

• 3 a child or young person under the care and control of a guardian appointed by their parents or a court.

  ■ archaic guardianship.

• 4 any of the internal ridges or bars in a lock which prevent the turning of any key without corresponding grooves.

  ■ the corresponding grooves in the bit of a key.

• 5 historical an area of ground enclosed by the encircling walls of a fortress or castle.

• 6 archaic the action of keeping a lookout for danger.

▶verb

• 1 (ward someone/thing off) prevent someone or something from harming or affecting one.

• 2 archaic guard; protect.

– phrases
ward of court a child or young person for whom a guardian has been appointed by the Court of Chancery or who has become directly subject to the authority of that court.

– derivatives
wardship noun.

– origin OE weard, weardian ‘keep safe, guard’, of Gmc origin; reinforced in ME by Old North. Fr. warde (n.), warder (v.) ‘guard’.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
-ward (also -wards)

▶suffix

• 1 (usu. -wards) (forming adverbs) towards the specified place or direction: homewards.

• 2 (usu. -ward) (forming adjectives) turned or tending towards: upward.

– origin OE -weard, from a Gmc base meaning ‘turn’.